The present invention relates to a system for preparing a beverage from a food ingredient provided to a beverage preparation device while being supported by an insert. One example are ingredients contained within a capsule, the capsule being inserted into a beverage production device while being supported by a capsule-holder removable from the beverage production device. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for preparing a beverage from capsules with an encoded insert, such as a capsule-holder, and a device comprising decoding means for interacting with the encoding means of the insert. The invention relates also to a device comprising decoding means adapted to receive an encoded insert. The invention also relates to the encoded insert adapted to fit into the device. In addition, the invention proposes a capsule-holder comprising a deflector for deflecting liquid provided to the capsule-holder for cleaning or rinsing purpose of the device.
Devices for preparing a beverage by injecting pressurized fluid into a capsule are well-known, especially in the field of preparing coffee or coffee type beverages. In addition, other substances such as chocolate or milk products can be extracted or dissolved to form a beverage. The advantages of such a system are in particular the conservation and freshness of the ingredients, as well as the possibility of facilitating the operation of preparing the beverage.
The method of preparing the beverages using such a device is in principle as follows. The sealed capsule is usually first inserted into a capsule-holder receiving chamber of the beverage preparation device. After that, a water injecting means such as a needle connected to the liquid supply of the device and which projects inside the capsule-holder receiving chamber, is introduced through a face or inlet port of the capsule to inject a hot or cold (ambient or chilled) liquid, in order to make the liquid interact with the ingredients within the capsule. The liquid beverage resulting from this interaction is then discharged through another face of the capsule. For instance, the lower face of the capsule opens due to the internal pressure in the capsule generated by injecting the liquid allowing the beverage to exit the capsule.
It should be understood that the interaction between the liquid and the ingredients within the capsule can be e.g. dissolving, extraction, brewing or the like in order to prepare of beverage by means of ingredients provided within the capsule.
Devices which adapt the above described principle of beverage preparation may be furnished with a capsule-holder in order to provide the capsule to the device. For instance, EP 1731063 A1 describes a capsule-holder intended to be connected to a beverage preparation system comprising an injection member which extends inside a housing of the capsule-holder which houses a capsule to be provided to the beverage preparation system. Thus, the capsule does not have to be provided to the capsule-holder receiving chamber of the device manually which is more convenient for the user of the device. Moreover, capsule-holders with different features can be connected to the device e.g. in order to house a series of different types of capsules with different ingredients, such as tea, ground coffee, milk or the like. In addition, capsules of different volumes may be provided to the device.
The co-pending European patent applications EP 07103610.7 and EP 07103613.1 describe a solution with a removable capsule-holder and in which the water injection system is no longer part of the capsule-holder but is part of the beverage production machine which receives the capsule-holder.
It is known that the quality of the beverage to be prepared by such a device is to a great extent influenced by the injection conditions such as the flow rate, the pressure and/or the temperature of the liquid injected into the capsule. Depending on the substance within the capsule to be made to interact with the liquid provided by the device, different injection conditions may lead to best results regarding the quality and taste of the beverage. In particular, an automatic adaptation of the correct injection conditions with regard to the type of capsule provided to the device would be desirable as for reasons of convenience and simplicity.
EP 1440638 A1 discloses a beverage preparation device which comprises means for reading a barcode of a capsule provided to the device. Hence, the injection parameters may be changed by the device in order to provide a best setup with regard to the type of the capsule provided to the device. However, the usage of a barcode has the disadvantage that the barcode may be damaged or covered with residua or the like and therefore cannot be read correctly.
In a device which uses a capsule-holder to provide a capsule to the device, it would therefore be of particular interest to enable a safe transfer of information between the capsule-holder and the device, in order to transmit information regarding the capsule or the capsule-holder to the device. Accordingly, best results in the beverage preparation process may be obtained.
A disadvantage of the known devices is that even when the capsule-holder is not placed in the support at the liquid supply of the device, the device can still be operated since there is no way of determining whether the capsule-holder is in the correct position or not. Thus, it would be particularly desirable to find a way of transmitting information regarding the correct positioning of the capsule-holder within the drink preparation device.
Furthermore, in conventional devices having a capsule-holder intended to be connected to the device, the problem of finding the correct locking position of the capsule-holder arises. Hence, a user may intend to use a closing mechanism of the device in order to enclose the capsule-holder and thus the capsule within the capsule-holder receiving chamber of the device, but cannot proceed when the capsule-holder is not fully inserted into the device. Therefore, especially a mechanism is sought-after which enables a user to easily determine whether the capsule-holder is in its correct position or not.
Moreover, the inside of the capsule-holder receiving chamber and particularly an injection member of the known devices are likely to be subjected to residua of dissolved or solid substance within the capsule to be pierced. Thus, cleaning of the injection member should be regularly carried out in order to prevent the injection member from being blocked and accordingly ensure a correct functioning of the injection member. Furthermore, cleaning of the capsule-holder receiving chamber and the housing of the capsule provided at the capsule-holder is very important to ensure a hygienic environment within the device. Hence, a design of a capsule-holder for being connected to the device is sought-after which facilitates the maintenance and cleaning of the capsule-holder receiving chamber and the injection member, as well as the capsule-holder itself.
In addition, the beverage preparation device may be used for other purposes than brewing ingredients contained in the capsule of the capsule-holder. For instance, the beverage preparation device should be able to be operated for delivering hot or cold water in safe conditions, e.g., at a reduced water pressure and toward a controlled direction, for example to fill a receptacle to prepare beverages such as tea from tea bags. Hence, delivery of water in absence of a capsule-holder should be controlled so that it does not create hazardous water jets of hot liquid that could burn the user.
The present invention seeks to address the above described problems. The invention also aims at other objects and particularly the solution of other problems as will appear in the rest of the present description.